Interest links

/. or written as Slashdot, is one of the most notorious geek sites on the Internet. It’s infamous enough that those in the know quake in fear of the Slashdot effect, now known as either the Digg Effect, Farked, or Boing’ed effect. The /. effect was first mentioned on February 1, 1999. Considering that the site has been around since 1998 and still going strong, it’s a testament that many of its features are found in blogs today. Among them are community-style comments (ala LJ, or should I say LJ ala /.?)

That’s not what I wanted to talk about though.

/. has some very interesting stories from time to time, and sometimes these stories link to other interesting articles. This is one of them. While reading it, I wondered how many people in Malaysia have had the same problem; how many girls and boys have been told to keep quiet about it. I wonder how many children, now adults, suffer in silence. How many have self-destructive tendencies because of this? How many grow up without becoming abusers themselves, or letting the martyr syndrome take over? How many need help, or perhaps want it, but are unable to find it? Perhaps more importantly; how many choose to become stronger because of it, defying the abuse by rising above it?

Sexual abuse is not uncommon in Malaysia. It’s a commonplace occurrence, but one that is seen as being less than important than others such as theft, murder, even embezzlement. Everyone reads about the rapist who was put away; does anyone take the time to talk to the girl/boy who was raped? One wonders what has happened to the case of the rapist who lured little girls away (think age 5-7 and you have a sense of how horrifying it is) with the plea to help him look for his cat? Till today there is no word on the case, and I for one, am terrified that it will be filed away and forgotten. What the Star does not mention (Harian Metro mentions this, sorry no link as stories expire after one week in Metro) is that the girls were not raped in the usual manner; they had vegetables, including a cucumber, shoved up their vagina instead.

The crime is terrifying, yes, but what makes it even more terrifying is that according to the Penal Code, crimes such as these, where the penetration does not happen with a penis, is treated as a molest case rather than a rape case. As you can guess, the punishment is much lighter, and the rapist may get away with just a few years in prison and released on good behaviour instead of being whipped (mandatory unless more than 50 years old) and thrown into prison.

There has been no updates of the case since 7 July 2007, when a child was abducted in Chow Kit. The people who abducted her were either copycats, or the original rapist from Kampung Baru has found an accomplice. The police have created a 40-man special taskforce to investigate the case and bring these people to justice, but not a peep has been said since then. Are the children really safe? Can my 4 year old cousin go out and play without someone randomly coming into the gate and stealing the child away?

There is no punishment too great for people like these. I’ve said this before to friends, and this time I’ll write it out here. This is a method to punish rapists when they’ve been convicted. No more nonsense like escaping whipping because you’re older; it’s because you ARE old that you should know better, especially for the monsters who rape their own 5 year old granddaughters/son.

Whipping: Twice the age difference between the victim and the rapist. So if the victim is 4 years old and the rapist is 54, then he’s to be whipped a hundred times. If they are the same age, then it’s the difference between their birthdates. No pleading of old age. You should know better. Because of you, your charge has been scarred and traumatised. You showed no mercy to them, why should we to you?

Optional: Tree tying. After the wounds have closed from the whipping, give them one day to rest. Smear honey on them. Or maybe not. Then tie them to a kerengga (red ant) infested tree and leave them for a day until late evening. Minimum 2 hours for each time he’s committed the offence. Repeat as wanted.

Lastly: Do not allow paedophiles to live in solitary confinement. Throw them in with people who are into extortion and the like. Let’s see how long they survive.